Eupora, Calhoun City play for Region 2 second seed
Tonight is somewhat uncharted waters for Calhoun City as they enter fighting for the No. 2 spot in Class 2A, Region 2.
The defending 2A state champions lost to
Class 3A Houston 50-41 in the second game of the season and had a rare division loss against Winona two weeks ago 31-20.
Despite at best coming in second place in their division, the Wildcats have still outscored their opponents by nearly 300 points total this year.
As Eupora coach Stephen Edwards put it, “they’re still Calhoun City.”
“They’re the defending champions for a reason,” Edwards said. “They got beat by a real good Houston team and Winona, but they’ll always be in the hunt for things. It’s no different this year, they just had a hiccup in the road.”
The Wildcats (7-2, 2-1 Region 2) beat down East Webster 67-15 and Leflore County 77-29 in their other two conference games and they still have a team built for a championship run. Coach Perry Lyles touts an offense that rushes for 334 yards per game led by a two-headed monster of running backs. Treshon Cooper has racked up 11 yards a carry and 908 total yards on the ground this season and Keshon Parker is right behind him at 888 and a team-high 16 touchdowns.
Quarterback Jojo Gray has 500 yards on the ground of his own and another 683 through the air.
Eupora (7-2, 2-1) had a bye week following its district win over Leflore County and come into this game with a playoff trip already clinched. With bumps, bruises and a case of the flu bug going around last week, it couldn’t have happened at a better time.
“The off week has been good for us,” Edwards said. “Our kids are hungry and this time of year it’s when everybody has to buckle down. I thought that we had good focus this week and last week during the off week.”
The two teams meet tonight in a special Thursday edition of high school football in the Magnolia state as heavy rain storms are in the forecast for Friday.
Edwards is expecting his players to give it all they have against the heavyweight Wildcats for a chance to move up in the playoff pecking order and seal home field advantage in round one of the playoffs.
“It’s a big game,” Edwards said. “Eupora hasn’t beat them in a while and I think it’s big for that reason alone. The winner will be No. 2 and host the first round of the playoffs. There’s a lot of stuff on the line (today) and we’re excited for the challenge.”
Leflore County at East Webster
Also in Thursday night action will be the team on the east side of Webster County as the Wolverines host Leflore County for senior night with a playoff spot on the line.
The Wolverines are usually fighting for home field advantage in the first round this late in the season, but this year has been different. East Webster has had a rough patch late in the year with injuries and youth taking its toll on new head coach Ron Price, but they still have a chance to throw one final punch and give themselves a shot at postseason.
Leflore County (6-3, 1-2 Region 2) had a big win over now district champs Winona in the first week of district play and only one loss this year against Class 5A Greenwood before it traveled to Eupora. As things unraveled in that game, it continued last week at Calhoun City when they surrendered 72 points.
East Webster (5-4, 0-3) should be able to score points against Leflore County and Charlie Brand will be playing his senior night at quarterback for the Wolverines.
Counting out East Webster would be a mistake. The scrappy bunch fought into the fourth quarter against Winona last week and will likely come out fighting again.
Sebastopol at French Camp Academy
Only one team has been better in Class A, Region 3 this season than French Camp and that’s the state’s No. 2 team Nanih Waiya.
The Panthers have turned in an impressive four weeks since that loss to the Warriors and now sit at 5-1 in district play and 6-3 overall with two games to go. The last two weekends have shown a French Camp team that is hungry for that spot in the playoffs as the Panthers followed up a big 22-21 win over Noxapater on the road with 42-6 and 42-0 victories over Ethel and Hamilton.
The last two games of the regular season will be at home starting with Sebastopol this week. The Bobcats have struggled to a 3-7 record with just one win in district play. French Camp on the other hand has gotten stronger as they year has gone.
Like the Webster County teams, this game will be played tonight at 7 p.m.
Hatley at Choctaw County